Build a robot that will help. Robots in the service of people: inventions ready to help people in everyday life

Agriculture is transforming at an unprecedented pace. Roboticists strive to automate farm processes and year after year create machines for harvesting fruits and vegetables. A farm in New Zealand plans to launch a robot that will pick ripe apples from trees. This once again tells us that in the future machines will help us grow crops.

Your apples will soon be picked only by robots

The robot, developed by Abundant Robotics, navigates rows between apple trees using lidar, or light radar, and searches for fruit using machine vision.

“The robot recognizes apples in real time. If the fruit is ripe, the computer system tells the machine to pick it,” explains Dan Steere, CEO of Abundant. Of course, she won't completely rip it off; rather, it will be swallowed - the hand uses a vacuum tube, with the help of which it “sucks” the fruit from the tree. The apple then goes onto a conveyor belt and from there falls into a bucket. The robot can do this around the clock.

There are many logical and technical reasons why such a robot did not appear sooner. When it comes to the evolution of agricultural automation, it's more likely to be a machete than a pair of scissors. Harvesters are widely used on farms to harvest wheat or cotton. Apple trees are trees, and you can't just drive a tractor over them to pick the fruit. “Neither the tree nor the fruit can be damaged. It requires a much more complex process,” explains Steer.

Automation of apple picking is mostly based on sensations - the robot not only identifies the fruits, but also analyzes their ripeness. After consulting with the farmer, the operator can configure the system so that the robot focuses on a specific color that will symbolize the ripeness of the apple.

You might think that the end of human farming is near. Before we start sounding the alarm about robots taking our jobs, it’s worth remembering that automation is nothing new, especially in agriculture. Think about what happened to wheat. Before the advent of combine harvesters, thousands of workers worked entire fields by hand. So, it's no surprise that apples and other crops will soon see automation too.

Thanks to the robot, people will have free time, and they will not have to do physically hard work. Instead, they can either control the robot as it moves around the garden or pick up fruits it misses. This invention is very important for agriculture because the industry is experiencing a huge shortage of human hands. Automation is simply necessary in order to feed all of humanity.

What's also interesting is that we can now adapt crops to machines. You see, apple trees in New Zealand are not like those growing in your country house. While regular trees are voluminous and round, apple trees in New Zealand are flat. They look more like grapevines. This form of trees has many advantages: in addition to the fact that it is easier for humans and robots to reach the fruits, more sunlight falls on the apples. Thus, we must adapt not only the machines to the crop, but also the crop to the machines.

Yes, to some extent, agricultural robots will learn to adapt to any environment. But we definitely won’t be able to create one universal machine for harvesting fruits - the harvest is simply very diverse. In addition, robots will someday have abilities that are not available to humans - for example, super speed. Ultimately, they will help us ensure a sustainable food production system on a changing planet.

Robots have firmly entered our modern life. They tirelessly help people in factories, in hospitals, perform complex calculations and do not need to pay wages. The time when machines will start helping us with housework or teaching children has already arrived, it’s just that not everyone knows about it yet.

1. “Social” robot “Jibo”

“Jibo” can perform a number of useful tasks: from setting an alarm, taking photographs, forecasting the weather, and ending with communicating with a person. At the same time, the robot selects intonation and phrases depending on the interlocutor. "Jibo" is already on sale for $900.

2. Robot genius “Professor Einstein”

The robot uses a cloud database to answer all sorts of questions. In addition to answering questions, “Professor Einstein” can conduct a dialogue with the interlocutor and has fifty options for facial expressions. The cost of the robot is $200.

3. Robot assistant “Aeolus”

In place of the eyes, Aeolus has special wide-angle cameras with three-dimensional sensors. Thus, the robot can vacuum cleaner, wash floors, wipe dust, wash windows and much more. It even remembers where things are in the house so that if necessary, it can be returned to its place. Despite the fact that this is still a prototype, the creators said that the development will be available for purchase this year, and the price will not be less than a family vacation abroad, no matter how much that means.

4. “Smart” home robot “Aido”

This family robot was designed to make its interaction with people as natural and intuitive as possible. Inside the Aido there is a subwoofer and speakers for a home theater system.
Interactive interaction with people is carried out by an innovative speech recognition system. The robot can help with housework, play with children, provide home security, and even perform programmed tasks. "Aido" by Ingen Dynamic Inc. available for pre-order for $499.

5. Family Friend "Buddy"

The robot's patrol route is quite advanced. “Buddy” is able to observe both one place and move between specified points. Like the other models we mentioned earlier, Buddy boasts advanced intelligence.

As a child I watched "Star Wars", saw the robots C3Po and R2D2 and dreamed of my own robot. This desire grew even stronger when I saw "The Jetsons" family robot housekeeper Rosie, who worked flawlessly doing housework. I have always felt that a personal robot could be useful as its own chef, trainer and companion. It seems that the future has come to our lives, because now more and more advanced models of robots for the home are appearing on the market and are even cheaper than an iPhone or MacBook. Let's take a look at 12 personal robots for your home: some are more human-like, others less so, but all of them can make your life better.

PepperfromSoftBank Robotics

Pepper is one of a line of robots that are most similar to humans. This robot is said to be able to recognize human emotions. Pepper detects your emotions and responds to them with the appropriate mood. Today, the Pepper robot is used in a variety of commercial applications in Japan, but it can also make a great friend at home.

Jibo

Jibo is a cute little robot that reminds me of Wall-E from the Pixar movie of the same name. It doesn't move on its own, but this family robot learns from everyone who interacts with it - and remembers everything you share with it. Jibo will talk to you the next time you enter the room, and don't be surprised if he makes a joke.

Kuri fromMayfield Robotics

Kuri is a fun friend and a good helper with serious technological content. The robot is mobile, equipped with WiFi, Bluetooth, a 1080p camera and facial recognition. It also has telepresence capabilities, which allows you to talk through the robot with other people at home. It can move around the house, avoiding obstacles and pets, and additionally act as a home surveillance system, since it hears and sees everything that happens in the house. Kuri makes beeping sounds similar to R2D2 from "Star Wars". Kuri can take daily photos and store content in an app on your phone - where you can view, edit and send this content to friends.

Zenbo fromAsus

Zenbo is a smart mobile robot that can communicate, help and entertain you whenever you need it. While you are at home, Zenbo learns and adapts to you, and when necessary, shares its emotions. Zenbo can help with reminders, control home devices, act as a security system while you're away, and even entertain kids by reading them stories.

Lynx fromUbtech

Lynx is a humanoid robot that provides mobility to the Alexa voice assistant. Lynx can order the items you need directly from Amazon using simple voice commands. Lynx comes with facial recognition and personalized greetings. It can play music and provide security in your absence by broadcasting what is happening in the house.

Budgee from 5Elements Robotics

Looking for another pair of hands to help you carry things around the house or yard? Then you need Budgee. Budgee is a friendly, hard-working robot that helps you carry things.

Hub RobotfromLG

Hub Robot from LG is a smart home assistant controlled by Alexa voice service. With its help, your home can be made smarter by simply installing the robot in the most active place in your home. The robot responds to your movements with nods and simple answers. It can take care of everything from setting the mood and playing music to turning the air conditioner on and off. The interactive display displays messages, videos, and photos. Using facial recognition, Hub Robot can recognize family members. This robot is currently not on sale, but we hope it will be available soon since it was first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2017.

Olly RobotfromEmotech

The Olly robot is a mix of a smart home hub and a personal robot. This round desktop device is designed to make your day better. Olly is a London-based robot startup that learns how you like to communicate, then answers your questions and controls your connected devices.

Robo Temi

Temi is a personal robot for the home: it's smarter than a telepresence robot, so it can take on the role of a personal assistant on wheels. Temi was designed to be a video chat and music machine - to keep you entertained and connected. Temi works for operating system Android, so it's compatible with many of your favorite apps.

Aido fromIngen Dynamic

Aido is a family home robot that can move around the house, help and improve your life. Aido can do everything from playing with your children to helping around the house, managing everything you plan. Aido can keep your home connected and safe with mobile and visual capabilities.

Personal Robot fromRobot Base

This creatively named robot can do a lot. As we said earlier, Personal Robot is equipped with all the basic functions such as: facial recognition, photo capability, alarm clock, accurate language recognition and offline navigation. Additionally, it can create a map of your home using navigation and mapping algorithms. Personal Robot can also interact with other home devices, such as the Nest smart thermostat and others, so it can help automate your home.

Personal robotQ. Boopen source

Are you looking for 2 in 1: both a personal robot and a robot for experiments? Meet Q.Bo, an open source robot that allows you to add the features you need to create the most customizable robot possible. Q.Bo is equipped with basic functions and technical capabilities, but they can be expanded. This robot is great for children, parents and teachers - after all, you can invent and customize the kind of personal robot you want.

BONUS

Erica - Japanese robot based on Android

This robot isn't in production for a mainstream audience yet, I just thought it was worth including on the list to demonstrate the direction robots are heading. Erica reminds me of the bad robot from Westworld. It is possible that soon robots will be more human-like, like Erica, and will even be able to work among us, or maybe they are already among us - ominous music follows.
We are still at the beginning of the era of artificial intelligence and personal robots for the home. I am confident that this group of robots, which currently look like a new HTML web page during the Internet revolution, will be replaced by more advanced tools. However, it's exciting to see how things are moving towards the future - towards what we've seen on the big screen and looked forward to over the past few decades.

“Robotologist” attended a robotics lesson and overheard what the students of the “Robot and I” club dreamed about.

Little roboticists already at the age of 7 know 3 types of levers (can you remember?) and during the lesson they assemble ready-made robots. The boys make sure that batteries are disposed of exclusively in a special box and not in a general trash bin. They, like adults, address the teacher only by name, but as “you”.

They also know that when they grow up, they will build robots to help humanity. Young engineers dream of conquering space, defeating enemies and troublemakers. Well, win in robot competitions. “Robotologist” attended a class on robotics and wrote down answers to the question about what kind of robots the kids dream of creating.

Dima Tatarinov, 8 years old

“I don’t know what kind of robot I want to make yet. But he will definitely help humanity. For example, doing calculations for scientists and flying to distant planets. When he arrives on a new planet, he will put a Russian flag there.”

Misha Fedorov, 10 years old

“I want to create a radio-controlled robot. The remote will have a screen that will show where the robot is going and what actions it is doing. This robot will issue fines for illegal parking. The robot itself will have a printer that prints fine receipts. He will be fast because he needs to manage to hand out fines before the offender leaves.”

Artem Soloviev, 8 years old

“It will be a tank that drives without a driver. No one will control it at all; I will create such a system so that the tank itself knows what to do. He will transmit the picture to the headquarters and if anything happens, you can take control on the remote control. It can also be hit by a projectile and disrupt the self-control sensor. He can shoot himself, he will have a barrel for large shells, for bombs and two machine guns. Then you can make the same plane. In general, I want to become a military man and create something to make our army stronger.”

Maxim Khotuntsev, 10 years old

“Well, I wouldn’t say that it will be exactly a robot. I would like to create a costume. He will have acid things on his sleeves, and flying things on his legs (like Tony Stark). There will be two masks on the helmet, the inner one will be scary, with glowing eyes. It will be possible to spray a toxin from it, which will make enemies feel like something strange is happening around them. He will have a sword and a flamethrower, just in case. And scorpion poison. The suit will be armored, but light. He will be called “Black Adam”, there is such a pirate.

And he will also have a thing that will slow down time. If he flies back and forth at high speed, then most likely a time portal will form in this place and, probably, I will be able to see the future. More likely."

Timofey Kuznetsov, 10 years old

“My robot will help explore black holes. People are afraid to fly there; no one knows what is there. And the robot can be sent to study some black hole. He, like a person, will think for himself, he will have artificial intelligence. I would like to develop artificial intelligence for it myself.”

Serezha Oruzheinikov, 9 years old

“I dream of building a robot that can constantly protect me from bad boys. Or it will not be a robot, but a robotic suit. He will be able to do everything, even turn into a car and run on batteries. That’s why it will be called “Defender”.

Sasha Fedorov, 8 years old

“I want to invent a robot football player for our competitions. He himself will be approximately 50 cm and will be able to kick the ball to a height of 1 meter. Maybe I can put together a few more of these, a whole team. These robots will play football until they run out of power. I think I can make such robots in 10 or 12 years.”

Arseny Rodkin, 7 years old

“My robot will help scientists so that the future comes sooner. He will create new technologies himself.

And at school I drew a pen that writes on its own, a flying backpack and a notebook that itself writes down notes for the teacher!”

Styopa Yeshukov, 11 years old

“What kind of robot do I want to invent? It depends on what topic. For our competitions (competitions based on the “Robot and I” club - editor’s note) in football - one, for the battle of robots - another. For battle, I want to build a large robot that will ride on tracks. But not on plastic ones, because the plastic will slip. He will have spikes on different sides: he will drive up, stick them into the enemy and knock out his parts. There will also be a mechanism on top that will lift other models, something like a crane.

In football competitions, control is more important, because victory does not depend much on the model itself.

And for racing I want to build a fast and well-handling model. I'll put the gearbox on speed, on the rear wheels, and make the front wheels low. It will still need to be improved.”

It is much easier to be a man than to create a man. Take, for example, the act of playing catch with a friend as a child. If this activity is broken down into separate biological functions, the game ceases to be simple. You need sensors, transmitters and effectors. You need to calculate how hard to hit the ball so that it closes the distance between you and your companion. You need to consider sun glare, wind speed, and anything else that could cause distractions. You need to determine how the ball spins and how you need to receive it. And there is room for extraneous scenarios: what if the ball flies over your head? Will it fly over the fence? Will he break a neighbor's window?

These questions demonstrate some of the most pressing challenges in robotics, and also lay the foundation for our countdown. Here is a list of the ten most difficult things to teach robots. We must conquer these ten if we ever want to realize the promises made by Bradbury, Dick, Asimov, Clark and other science fiction writers who envisioned imaginary worlds where machines behaved like people.

Roboticists solve the first problem by arming their machines with an array of sensors, scanners, cameras and other high-tech tools that help robots assess their surroundings. Laser scanners are becoming increasingly popular, although they cannot be used in aquatic environments due to the severe distortion of light in water. Sonar technology appears to be a viable alternative for underwater robots, but it is much less accurate in land-based environments. In addition, a technical vision system consisting of a set of integrated stereoscopic cameras helps the robot “see” its landscape.

Collecting environmental data is only half the battle. The bigger challenge will be processing this data and using it to make decisions. Many developers control their robots using a predefined map or composing one on the fly. In robotics, this is known as SLAM - a method of simultaneous navigation and mapping. Mapping here refers to how the robot converts the information received by the sensors into a specific form. Navigation refers to how the robot positions itself relative to the map. In practice, these two processes must occur simultaneously, in a “chicken and egg” fashion that is only feasible using powerful computers and advanced algorithms that calculate position based on probabilities.

Demonstrate dexterity

These skills are extremely difficult to teach to a robot. Typically, scientists don't teach robots to touch at all, programming them to fail if they come into contact with another object. However, over the past five years or so, significant advances have been made in combining compliant robots and artificial skin. Compliance refers to the level of flexibility of a robot. Flexible machines are more pliable, rigid ones less so.

In 2013, researchers at Georgia Tech created a robotic arm with spring-loaded joints that allow the arm to bend and interact with objects, much like a human hand. They then covered the whole thing with a “skin” that could sense pressure or touch. Some robot skins contain hexagonal chips, each equipped with an infrared sensor that detects any approach closer than a centimeter. Others feature electronic fingerprints, a ridged, rough surface that improves grip and facilitates signal processing.

Combine these high-tech arms with an advanced vision system and you get a robot that can give you a gentle massage or sort through a folder of documents, choosing from a huge collection.

Keep the conversation going

Initially, scientists thought that replicating this would be as simple as plugging grammar rules into a machine's memory. But the attempt to program grammatical examples for each individual language simply failed. Even determining the meaning of individual words turned out to be very difficult (after all, there is such a thing as homonyms - a door key and a treble clef, for example). Humans have learned to determine the meaning of these words in context, drawing on their mental abilities developed over many years of evolution, but breaking them down again into strict rules that can be put into code has proven simply impossible.

As a result, many robots today process language based on statistics. Scientists feed them huge texts, known as corpora, and then let computers break the long texts into chunks to figure out which words often go together and in what order. This allows the robot to “learn” a language based on statistical analysis.

Learn new things

Roboticists face certain challenges when trying to build an autonomous machine that can learn new skills. One approach, as with golf, is to break down the activity into precise steps and then program them into the robot's brain. This requires that each aspect of the activity needs to be separated, described and coded, which is not always easy to do. There are certain aspects of swinging a golf club that are difficult to describe in words. For example, the interaction between the wrist and elbow. These subtle details are easier to show than to describe.

In recent years, scientists have made some progress in teaching robots to imitate a human operator. They call this imitation learning or learning by demonstration (LfD technique). How do they do it? The machines are equipped with arrays of wide-angle and zoom cameras. This equipment allows the robot to “see” the teacher performing certain active processes. Learning algorithms process this data to create a mathematical map of features that combines visual input and desired actions. Of course, LfD robots must be able to ignore certain aspects of their teacher's behavior - like an itchy or runny nose - and cope with similar problems that arise from differences in the anatomy of the robot and a person.

Deceive

For robots, learning to deceive people or other robots can be incredibly difficult (and perhaps good for you and me). Deception requires imagination - the ability to form ideas or images external objects, not associated with feelings - and a car, as a rule, does not have one. They are strong at directly processing data from sensors, cameras and scanners, but cannot form concepts that go beyond sensory data.

On the other hand, robots of the future may be better at deception. Georgia Tech scientists were able to transfer some squirrel tricking skills to robots in the lab. First, they studied the cunning rodents, which protect their food caches by luring competitors into old and unused storage areas. Then they coded this behavior into simple rules and loaded it into the brains of their robots. Machines were able to use these algorithms to determine when deception might be useful in a particular situation. Consequently, they could deceive their companion by luring him to another place where there is nothing valuable.

Anticipate human actions

Like deception, anticipating human actions requires the robot to imagine a future state. He should be able to say: “If I see a person doing A, then I can guess from past experience that he is likely to do B.” In robotics, this point has been extremely difficult, but people are making some progress. A Cornell University team developed an autonomous robot that could respond based on how its companion interacted with objects in its environment. To do this, it uses a pair of 3D cameras to capture images of the surroundings. The algorithm then identifies key objects in the room and makes them stand out from the rest. Then, using a wealth of information obtained from previous training, the robot develops a set of specific movement expectations from the person and the objects it touches. The robot makes conclusions about what will happen next and acts accordingly.

The Cornell robots make mistakes sometimes, but they make good progress as camera technology improves.

Coordinate activities with other robots

A number of problems arise. A robot working in a team must be able to position itself well in relation to its comrades and be able to communicate effectively - with other machines and a human operator. To solve these problems, scientists turned to the world of insects, which use complex swarming behavior to find food and solve problems that benefit the entire colony. For example, while studying ants, scientists realized that individual individuals use pheromones to communicate with each other.

Robots could use the same "pheromone logic" but rely on light rather than chemicals to communicate. It works like this: a group of tiny robots are dispersed in a limited space. They first explore the area randomly until one comes across a light trail left by another bot. He knows that he needs to follow the trail, and he follows, leaving his own trail. As the tracks merge into one, more and more robots follow each other in single file.

Self-copy

What is noteworthy is that robots may not take people as an example of a reproductive model. You may have noticed that we are not divided into two equal parts. Protozoa, however, do this all the time. Jellyfish's relatives, hydras, practice a form of asexual reproduction known as budding: a small ball detaches from the parent's body and then breaks off to become a new, genetically identical individual.

Scientists are working on robots that can perform the same simple cloning procedure. Many of these robots are built from repeating elements, usually cubes, which are made in the image of a single cube, and also contain a self-replicating program. The cubes have magnets on the surface so they can attach and detach from other cubes nearby. Each cube is divided into two parts diagonally, so each half can exist independently. The entire robot contains several cubes assembled into a certain shape.

Act on principle

But as with language, coding ethical behavior is extremely difficult, mainly because there is no single set of generally accepted ethical principles. Different countries have different rules of behavior and different systems laws. Even within individual cultures, regional differences can affect how people evaluate and measure their actions and the actions of others. Trying to write a global ethics that applies to all robots turns out to be almost impossible.

That is why scientists decided to create robots, limiting the scope of the ethical problem. For example, if a machine were to operate in a particular environment—a kitchen, say, or a patient's room—it would have far fewer rules of conduct and fewer laws to guide ethical decision-making. To achieve this goal, robotics engineers introduce ethical choices into the machine's learning algorithm. This choice is based on three flexible criteria: what good the action will lead to, what harm it will cause, and the degree of justice. Using this type of artificial intelligence, your future home robot will be able to accurately determine who in the family should do the dishes and who gets the TV remote control for the night.

Feel the emotions

“Here is my secret, it is very simple: only the heart is vigilant. You can’t see the most important things with your eyes.”

If this remark of the Fox from Antoine de Saint-Exupery's "The Little Prince" is true, then robots will not see the most beautiful and best in this world. After all, they're great at sensing the world around them, but they can't translate sensory data into concrete emotions. They cannot see the smile of a loved one and feel joy, or register the angry grimace of a stranger and tremble in fear.

This, more than anything else on our list, is what separates man from machine. How to teach a robot to fall in love? How to program disappointment, disgust, surprise or pity? Is it even worth trying?

Some people think it's worth it. They believe that robots of the future will combine cognitive and emotional systems, which means they will work better, learn faster and interact more effectively with people. Believe it or not, prototypes of such robots already exist, and they can express a limited range of human emotions. Nao, a robot developed by European scientists, has the emotional qualities of a one-year-old child. He can express happiness, anger, fear and pride, accompanying the emotions with gestures. And this is just the beginning.